Beckman gets fall serious in bid to regain PGA card

Cameron Beckman, hitting a tee shot during the first round of the AT&T National in June, needs a good showing in the PGA Tour’s Fall Series to keep his full-time exemption for 2013.

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Getting fall serious

The PGA Tour is winding into the Fall Series portion of its schedule. Three players with San Antonio ties will take part beginning this week at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas:

Cameron Beckman

Age: 42

Residence: San Antonio

His season: Ranks 181st on the money list with $191,586 earned, one of the poorest seasons of his career. Posted only one top-25 finish.

At stake: Must earn enough in the Fall Series to move into the top 150 for partial status on tour next season. If he gets into the top 125, he earns another full-time exemption. If he wins an event, he gets a two-year full exemption. He does have limited past-champion status in 2013. If he can't make a move, he will play in the Tour Qualifying School later this year.

Jimmy Walker

Age: 33

Residence: Boerne

His season: Ranks 56th on the money list with $1.33 million earned. Finished in the top 25 in seven events, including four top-10 showings. Reached the third round of FedEx Cup playoffs.

At stake: Already owns a full-time exemption for 2013. But if he can stay in the top 70 on the money list, he earns status in lucrative invitational events.

Martin Flores

Age: 30

Residence: Dallas

His season: Former Clark High School player is 100th on the money list with $889,394 earned. He had two top-10 and seven top-25 showings.

At stake: Trying to remain inside the top 125, and perhaps improve his position.

Cameron Beckman feels that when it comes to golf, sometimes he responds best “when my back is to the wall.”

If that's the case, the next few weeks should be all kinds of fun.

The veteran PGA Tour player, after a break of more than a month, heads to Las Vegas this week gambling that he's on the way to a turnaround on the schedule's annual four-tournament Fall Series.

The San Antonio competitor, coming off a miserable regular season that saw him post only one top-25 finish in 22 stops, will play in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open against the backdrop of possibly losing his full-time tour exemption for 2013.

“It'd be nice to play good,” said Beckman, 42. “I haven't played well in a long time.”

The former Texas Lutheran standout will have familiar company in the field. Boerne's Jimmy Walker, fresh from a season that saw him set several personal bests, is playing at least two of the fall events to try to stay inside the top 70 on the PGA earnings rankings and qualify for several lucrative invitational events next year.

Walker, 33, is three weeks removed from having a torn meniscus in his left knee repaired by San Antonio surgeon David Schmidt. Despite playing in pain most of the year, the one-time Baylor star cashed $1.33 million to rank 56th in earnings.

“You wouldn't know anything was wrong with it now,” Walker said. “It's hard to tell why it happened — just the wear and tear on a body. Thank goodness I have no wrist or back problems to speak of.”

Shortly after a pedestrian performance at the Valero Texas Open last spring, Walker parted ways from longtime swing coach Bryan Gathright and has signed on with Butch Harmon.

“Sometimes, you just need another look,” Walker said.

Former Clark High School standout Martin Flores, now a Dallas resident, also will be playing to try to move up from his current position at No. 100 on the money list.

Beckman has a longer hike. The three-time tour winner, in the final year of a full-time exemption earned when he captured the Mayakoba Golf Classic, managed only $191,586 in earnings, ranking 181st during the regular season. He missed seven of eight cuts before cashing in his final three events.

During his break, Beckman worked out aggressively, on and off the course. In particular, the player concentrated on a balky short game that has undercut his hopes all year.

“When you're hitting putts, it's not that hard a game for tour players,” he said. “Your momentum is with your short game, and it hasn't been that way for me the last couple of years.”

In his tournaments in 2012, Beckman ranks only 144th in strokes gained by putting. His 71.64 scoring average is 153rd on tour, including a 74.2 norm in final rounds. While he is seventh in greens-in-regulation percentage from 100-125 yards, he tumbles to 166th from 75-100 yards.

“I don't feel like I'm done as a player yet,” he said. “Everything in life is great, but my business life is not where I want it to be.”